Update: Lisa Barone covers the Affiliate Summit on Sugarrae.com
How does one make an affiliate website than doesn’t suck?
This is a fabulous question, and the answer can be provided via Lisa Barone’s knee socks.
Lisa Barone is our blogger extraordinaire at We Build Pages.
She is also ga ga crazy in love with knee socks, in fact if you follow her on twitter, you will see that every day before she goes to work she posts a new photo of that days knee socks. How many knee socks does she own? Don’t ask. She is really into them and we love her anyway. The point however is that she loves knee socks and when she was deciding on what her first affiliate site would be, the answer wasn’t too tough.
I helped her out on this site, and we started brainstorming. We started buying knee socks. Hundreds of dollars worths of knee socks. Why did we buy them?
The answer to that is in essence what this whole blog post is about.
How To Make an Affiliate Marketing Site That Doesn’t Suck
1) Create a site on a subject you love and enjoy.
Lisa chose knee socks. Thumbs up.
If you do not love or are not pleasured by what you are doing, you likely won’t take the extra steps that are required to make a real go at it. You also are not likely to know your subject very well.
2) Do something useful.
One of the most common opportunities in affiliate marketing is niche sites. Have you ever wondered why that is true? Some answers may seem obvious, but I want to discuss what affiliate websites do that is actually useful. They often create useful resources in fragmented industries.
Knee socks are a great example of this. As we did our research I realized (Lisa already knew) how hard it is to actually look for knee socks. You might find one here, two over there, or one or two great sites, but there was not one place where you could find, for example a selection of socks of a certain color or pattern. For example if you search for “black knee socks” or “striped knee socks” you will find typically results that offer one sock at a time, not a selection. 
The search term is pretty self explanatory. A user searching for “striped knee socks” probably would like to see a selection of knee socks that are striped. As such we made a striped knee socks page. Our page actually shows a selection of knee socks with stripes from various manufacturers and stores.
My point is this. If you have a hard time finding something online, then that means there is an opportunity. If you know you can create a better resource then what exists then you are golden.
3) Identify problems with the current resources in your field and solve them
We noticed that many of the knee socks were displayed in their packaging or just laid on on the floor flat. Lisa mentioned she liked to see knee socks on actual people, and it helped her make a decision on what those knee socks might really look like.
This is why we bought all those socks.
Lisa put on like twenty million outfits, and we started taking photos of her in the knee socks. Providing different angles and showing them on a real person is very useful to someone wondering which knee socks would be best for them.
We also noticed that the socks were often described minimally, I don’t know about you but does a description like this seem helpful or useful? (the answer is no)…
Cushioned bottom. 75% acrylic. 25% span
dex. Wash cold. Dry low. Imported.
We decided that we could really do well to describe the socks individually, and with real language. So that is what she started to do.
Each pair of socks will have their own page filled with photos and text that are useful. We will eventually have all custom photos too. This is a nice addition to world of knee sock shopping!
4) Interact with others who love that subject too
Lisa invited her friends that she knew liked knee socks and invited them to help her. Lisa would give free knee socks to people in exchange for photos and descriptions. She got a great response from people in our industry (to see a list of who is helping out go to her blog post introducing the site to the world). We hope to have many people involved, but if you are interested just ask Lisa 
Once we have great descriptions and photos we will look to other ways to interact with the community of people who love knee socks by offering ways to interact or post photos, or whatever. (Can’t get into details on that yet)
5) Make a real blog about the subject
Anyone who knows Lisa knows that she is a talented blogger, and in addition to that, she is writing about a subject she loves. A great blog is the quickest and easiest way to interact with a community and/or become a resource for that industry. But it has to be real.
The site is KneeSockz.com and make sure to check out her new knee socks blog.
Related posts:Lisa Barone is Better Than Anyone Else
Google Algorithmically Detects That Lisa Barone is Awesome
Lisa Barone Joins We Build Pages
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
The affiliate marketing post is excellent. This is quite different post clearly stated the questions and example of socks.Thanks a lot for the information.
While Lisa must be very passionate about socks I think she has hit off brilliantly by making pics with her wearing the socks.
Nobody actually can get a good picture if the socks are hung or paced somewhere. Best is to show them worn. And she has had the brains to tap this human sensibility.
i do like the idea of coming up with a blog by researching for items not to be found on the internet.Which brings me to my next query? WIll it be worth it if nobody has ever thought about it. WIll it be a niche with a miniscule market? But then I say to myself, somebody has gort to make a start.
Lisa rocks. I mean socks.LoL
Affiliate Marketing pays much higher than adsense or adbrite. i signed up with Amazon affiliate program and also on some health stores.
Great article… looks like kneesockz.com expired though.
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I want to quote your post in my blog. It can? And you have an account on Twitter?